'SAMENA Daily' News

Fully digital insurance brokers are developing at a rapid pace, invading market segments such as health and automotive, making digital insurance technology a trend Morocco will unlikely escape from.

These digital players impose standards that traditional companies can no longer provide. Their ability to pool technical resources and customize their high-speed services through the use of big data makes them strong competitors for the traditional insurance industry.

Considering this growing trend, the Casablanca Rendez-vous de l’Assurance choose “Reinventing the customer experience in the digital era” as the theme its 4th edition, opening this Wednesday, April 19 in Casablanca.

The meeting, which brought together insurers, reinsurers and experts, was kicked off by Mohamed Hassan Bensalah, President of the Moroccan Federation of Insurance and Reinsurance Companies (FMSAR), Hassan Boubrik, President of the Insurance Supervisory Authority (ACAPS) and Mor Adj, President of the Senegalese Federation of Insurance Companies (FSSA). The opening speeches all affirmed that digital technology is now a central pillar through which to strengthen the virtual presence of the insurer with the insured.

“In Morocco, I intend to launch the reflection in the coming months with the operators to draw up a thorough reform of the Insurance Code and to lay out the framework that anticipates developments along the entire value chain and encourages innovation,” announced Boubrik.

Bensalah noted the importance of bringing together established players and smaller startups. “We will have the opportunity to discuss the digital strategy of the insurers as well as the Internet of Things and Big Data with the testimony of leading companies in their respective markets, but also of more modest players who have dared to innovate and which are distinguished by innovative strategies.”

But to succeed, insisted Boubrik, the government must accompany the leading firms on the regulatory level of this growing digital revolution. He advocated for a regulatory framework that “accompanies innovation but that guarantees the interests of the insured.”

While acknowledging that the answers to these technological challenges are still at the beginning, with implementation difficulties in perspective, he announced that ACAPS, in consultation with the insurers, will initiate in the coming months a new regulatory framework for the digital distribution of insurance.

Boubrik also recalled that digital technology exerts a pressure not only on insurance companies but also on regulators. “The digital is bringing specific difficulties.” These arise notably in the legal treatment of the cross-border and automatic nature of these activities, but also concerning the protection of insured persons and the management of competition in the face of traditional actors.